Exploration 8

Question One;
I interpret the books ending as a new beginning. The land had a good rain, Tom knows what he wants to do, and some of the events through out the book have come to and end. Rose of Sharon had her baby, but it was stillborn. When the family goes to the barn there is a little boy with his father who is starving to death. Since he can't digest solid food, Ma looks to Rose of Sharon to feed him what her baby would have ate from her. Without words Rose of Sharon knows what Ma wants her to do and she does it. It is a little strange to us now, but at that time they had nearly no options to save the man and they couldn't just let him die. I think her smile is described as mysterious because to me it almost seems like it was all meant to be. Connie left her, she was pregnant but had no live baby, she had the milk from being pregnant, and the man needed not solid food. Maybe she was meant to be pregnant but not to have a baby.

Question Two;
I see the Joads future getting brighter. They will face any challenge that comes their way just like they did through out the whole book, trying with optimism. They'll survive by finding work and doing work to get money to live and even save for when they come out of the depression to have a house and maybe even a farm again, always remembering what their struggle taught them.